


Which Is Which?

by orphan_account



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:01:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22728802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What if instead of Percabeth, it was Moonbli?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"What the fuck are you?"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~It's been over a year since the war with Gaea ended. Moon and Qibli tried New Rome University, but too many people recognized them as members of the Seven and treated them like heroes, so against their better judgement, they started at Jade Mountain University. They altered little things about their appearances, hid her limp, fought monsters in secret, and tried to pretend they were normal. But they're too powerful for their own good, and secrets that big don't stay hidden forever.
Relationships: Moonwatcher/Qibli (Wings of Fire)
Kudos: 6





	1. 1

When Moon woke up hearing her friends screaming, she knew they'd fucked up. They'd been too careless, and let their guard down. And now they were caught.

Or not, as it turned out. They were watching Hounds of Baskerville.

She fell back onto her bed, her heart hammering. They'd been attacked, of course. Two of the most powerful half-bloods of their generation in one place, and there were a lot of monsters who wanted to avenge Gaea. But they'd managed to keep them a secret. Hopefully, they could continue to keep the secret.

She wasn't that mad about being woken up. She'd been having nightmares again. Not Tartarus, at least not this time. No, this was the Labyrinth. She was stuck, and the halls never ended, and she kept hearing her friends' voices, screaming for her to help them. Even Hazel, and Piper, and Jason, and everyone else who had never been in the Labyrinth before. Gaea and Kronos's voices echoed through the halls, chasing her, and no matter how far she ran, she couldn't escape them.

A knock on the door startled her. "Hey," Qibli said gently. If she focused, his eyes flickered from black to sea-green, but then they changed to black before she could really see them. "I have no idea why they're watching Sherlock at one in the morning."

She sighed and sat up. "I was having nightmares, anyway."

"Bob?"

"No. The Labyrinth."

"When I heard them screaming, I thought for sure we'd been caught," he said, lowering his voice and stepping into the room.

"Yeah, me too."

He sat down next to her, and she closed her eyes, pretending for a moment that they weren't hiding themselves and life was normal. Then Kinkajou rushed in, screaming, and the moment was over.

"Gah, that was terrifying," she shrieked. "I have no idea how you two don't get scared by that stuff."

We've seen and lived worse, Moon thought wryly. But their friends could never know that.

"It's one in the morning," Qibli complained. "What are you doing?"

"We couldn't sleep," she explained. "I don't know if I'll sleep, now!"

"If you're going to scream, I'm sleeping on the couch," Moon informed her.

"I won't," Kinkajou promised. Moon was a little skeptical, but chose to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"I'm going back to bed," Qibli said with a yawn. "'Night." He kissed Moon and left.

Her phone buzzed, and even if she wasn't supposed to, she checked who it was. Weirdly enough, it was Sadie. _Are you awake?_

_Unfortunately._

_Carter and I need your guys' help._

_With?_

_There's an artifact in the museum we need, and the shabtis aren't able to get to it._

_Now?_

_We were hoping now._

Moon waited until she was sure Kinkajou, Lynx, and Peril were asleep before slipping down the hall to the boys' room.

"Wake up, Seaweed Brain," she said softly, shaking him. When Qibli heard the nickname, his eyes flew open.

"Wha...?"

"The Kanes need our help," she hissed, showing him the texts.

"Fine, fine," he grumbled. He found his pen and shoes, and they snuck out of the window and met Carter and Sadie at the museum. The boys kept watch while the girls read from one of Sadie's scrolls and freed an old Egyptian artifact. Just as they finished the spell, a security guard rounded the corner.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Moon froze, then grabbed the artifact- a necklace- while Sadie stuffed the scroll in her bag. Carter drew his khopesh, Qibli drew Riptide, and Moon put on her Yankees cap and disappeared.

She ran as silently as she could across the room, then pulled the guard's gun from his belt and threw it. It landed with a clatter at Sadie's feet, and she picked it up and aimed. Moon turned and set off the alarms. More guards would be here soon, but it would cover the noise of their getaway.

"HA-DI!" Sadie shouted, and the wall shattered. They all jumped out. "Hi-nehm," she added, and though the wall didn't come together completely, it mostly mended itself. Moon pulled off her hat, and they ran, laughing.

"We almost got caught," Carter spluttered.

"But we didn't!" Sadie crowed.

"That was too close," Moon muttered. "We might want to stay away from the museum for a while."

Qibli nudged her. "Hey, the police are easy to handle. They're even more susceptible to the Mist than normal mortals."

She grinned. "Oh, and just because you can change your eye color, you think you can hide from the cops?"

He shrugged. "Maybe."

She just laughed at him.

After Sadie and Carter opened and stepped through a portal back to Brooklyn House, Moon and Qibli walked back to the dorm building.

"Guess what I found?" he asked.

"The kelp in your brain?"

"Hardy-har. My copy of Camp Half-Blood Confidential." The Confidential was a book they'd written a few summers ago with most of the other campers, to replace Apollo's orientation film. "Actually, Winter found it, but he thought it was just a book about pavement. He was very confused about why I had it."

"I think my copy's in the bottom of my backpack," she thought aloud. "I think I'll reread it."

"'Night, Wise Girl."

"Good night, Seaweed Brain."


	2. 2

_"Tell my mom I'm sorry."_

_"No. NO!" Moon tried to reach him, but Qibli just smiled a sad smile and pressed his finger to the button as Bob dragged her back into the elevator. She kicked and screamed at the Titan to let her go, but several minutes later, she stumbled out of the Doors of Death, leaving her other half behind._

Moon woke with a start, pressing her fingers to her temple. She was tired of having the nightmares where she left Qibli in Tartarus. She didn't want to think about that literal hellhole they spent two weeks in, where she'd spent her seventeenth birthday.

She glanced at the clock, decided 5:37 was an acceptable time to be awake, and got out of bed. She changed and went out for a run, trying to clear her head. She could almost smell the sulfur, hear the screaming from the Underworld rivers. Shaking her head, she ran faster, trying to outrun the memories she didn't want to have.

When she got back to their dorm, Kinkajou was up and singing loudly, while Peril and Lynx held their pillows over their heads and complained. Moon just laughed and changed, then grabbed her backpack, planning to go to the library before her first class. She paused when she remembered the book in the bottom, and instead of heading to the architecture section like always, she curled up in her favorite spot with Camp Half-Blood Confidential. When she opened it randomly, it landed on the FAQ she'd done with Qibli and Nico. She smiled to herself as she read it, missing her friends back at camp.

"Pavement?" asked Cath, a friend of hers.

Moon shrugged. "If I want to be an architect, then I should know about concrete, right?"

Cath laughed. "I guess. See you later, Moon."

"Bye." Moon went back to her book, and when her phone buzzed with her five-minute-to-class alarm, she almost ignored it.

Almost.


	3. 3

_How is it possible to have a pop quiz in every class today?_ Moon wondered. Her luck was bad - falling into Hell, anyone? - but it wasn't _that_ bad. At least, she didn't think so.

And yet- pop quiz in _every_ class.

She trudged back to the dorm, shivering a little in the chilly mid-October air. All she wanted was to make a cup of coffee and continue the designs for Mount Olympus - she had this awesome idea for a six-layer fountain - but unfortunately, Kinkajou decided to drag all of them out for a walk.

Eventually, they got to a little park not far from their dorm. Kinkajou tried to keep them going, but then a roar echoed through the cold- a roar Moon had heard before.

"This guy _again_?" she heard Qibli mutter. "Guys, get out of here. Hide!"

"What?" Turtle demanded. "What the hell is going on?"

"This is going to be a long story, so go hide in the bushes for now," Moon ordered. She closed her eyes and reached into the Duat, like Sadie had taught her- it was the only magic she knew, and Sadie had taught her because she couldn't actually carry her drakon bone sword everywhere. It took three tries, but soon she held the smooth white blade. Looking at it for too long always made her stomach churn, so she tore her gaze away, made sure her friends were hiding. They were, and unfortunately, they were hiding from the Minotaur.

"We fought him three years ago," Qibli complained. "Can't he just _stay_ dead?"

"You remember how monsters get out of Tartarus, right? The Doors of Death? Even other monsters are scared of this guy. They must help him out," Moon reasoned.

"So we get stuck with him, instead?"

"Yep."

"I hate my life," he grumbled, then uncapped his pen and faced the Minotaur head-on. Moon pulled her hat out of her backpack and put it on, then snuck up behind the monster. It may have only been able to go forward, but that didn't mean it wasn't fast. Just before she managed to behead it, it ran forward, nearly goring Qibli in the neck with its horns. _No, no, no!_ He jumped out of the way just in time, panicked.

"Hey, ugly!" she shouted, throwing a rock at it. "Over here!"

The next few moments were a blur of blades and blood, as Moon's ears rang from the volume of the Minotaur's roars and her feet almost moved of their own accord. She felt her limp breaking through the Mist's cover, but didn't have time to think about it. She and Qibli crouched behind a trash can to catch their breath, using the awful smell to cover themselves from the Minotaur, who's vision and hearing were slightly better than that of a sock.

"We can't play this one safe," he panted. She didn't want to agree, but she didn't have a choice.

"I'll do it," she decided for the both of them. "You keep them safe."

"I'm not letting you do that alone. I've already beaten it twice."

"Which is why it's my turn."

"No way. You're not getting away from me, not again," he argued, quoting himself from that one awful day in Rome. "Moon, please."

"I'll be okay," she promised, managing a smile. "I'll be right behind you."

"Promise."

"I promise." She kissed him, trying not to think about the fact that that could be last time she ever would, and darted from their cover. The Minotaur figured out where she was immediately. "Asterion," she called, using its given name.

The Minotaur definitely didn't like that. It charged, and she gathered up all the courage she had, leaped over its head, and landed on its shoulders. Before it could react to the risky, idiotic maneuver she'd pulled off, her entire bone blade was between its shoulder blades. As it dissolved into monster dust, she landed in a crouch, holding her shirt over her nose so she didn't breathe in the monster's remains.

She heard rustling from the bushes, and had just barely gotten to her feet before Qibli's arms were around her. "You scared me," he whispered. "Gods, you're such an idiot."

"You're one to talk, Seaweed Brain," she whispered back. "I'm okay." He kissed her, but though they'd survived that one battle, they still had another, harder one. Piper had been right when she said Moon hated feeling, and this would be a battle of emotions, rather than strategy.


	4. 4

"What the fuck are you?" Winter asked bluntly. They'd gotten back to the girls' dorm, and he, Turtle, and Kinkajou all looked about ready to explode.

"Human," Qibli answered.

"Partly," Moon muttered.

"Not helping!"

"He asked what we are, and we're only partly human!" she argued.

"Enough," Turtle said, holding up a hand. "If you're only partly human, what's the other part?"

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

"God," Moon managed after a minute. "Greek god."

Silence.

"That- that isn't possible," Kinkajou spluttered.

"It's too possible," Moon said with a sad smile.

"So that was the Minotaur from the stories?" Turtle asked cautiously.

"The same."

"What did you mean, 'why can't this guy just stay dead?'" was Turtle's next question.

"Monsters don't die the same way everyone else does. When you kill them, they- they return to the abyss of Tartarus. If they can find their way to the Doors of Death, they can return to the mortal world," Qibli said, his voice hitching on the word "Tartarus."

"How do you know?" Kinkajou asked. "I can't imagine they'd calmly tell you."

Moon winced. "For a while, we only loosely knew what happened because the gods told us-"

"Not very well," Qibli muttered.

"But the summer before our senior year of high school, Qibli and I... well, we saw it for ourselves," Moon admitted.

Turtle was the first to realize what she was saying. "What- you don't mean that you were in Tartarus, do you?"

"That's exactly what we mean. We're two of only three demigods in history to survive it," Qibli said blankly. Moon shuddered, and there was a quiet moment where both of them relived it.

Winter guffawed, but there was no humor in it. "You can't possibly _believe_ them?"

"If the gods were real in ancient times, and immortal, then why shouldn't they be alive now?" Kinkajou countered.

Moon blinked. "Wow. That's- that's actually exactly what I was going to say."

"And why else would they suddenly look different?" Turtle added.

"Wait, we do?" Qibli asked, eyes widening. Moon hadn't noticed, probably because she was used to him the way he normally looked, but his Mist disguise had fallen. His eyes were sea-green again, his gray streak was back, his scars cut across his arms and face, and his tattoo was jet-black on his arm. Moon assumed her eyes had gone from green to gray, her gray streak had returned, her scars were back, and she was limping again. "Oops."

"How did you make yourselves look different?" Kinkajou asked eagerly.

"The Mist. It hides the mythical world from the mortal one." Moon snapped her fingers and made it look like the five of them were standing on the ceiling. "We can also use it to change what mortals and demigods see. Some mortals are immune to it, but it's really rare."

"'Really rare,' she says." Qibli rolled his eyes. "It's not like we know Rachel, and Mom, and Paul, and probably Estelle, and-"

" _Qibli._ "

"What?"

She glared at him.

"You never said who your parents were," Turtle said curiously ( **I'm genderbending Secretkeeper here, fyi** ).

"My mom's Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle strategy," Moon answered.

"Tell them what Malcolm says," Qibli said eagerly.

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yes."

"What?" Kinkajou asked.

Moon sighed, snapped her fingers so they were on the ground again, then reluctantly obliged. "She's Ares, but with brain cells."

Turtle laughed. "What about you, Qibli?"

"Poseidon, god of the seas. One of the Big Three," he added. "Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Their kids tend to be incredibly powerful."

"It hasn't gone to your head or anything," Moon muttered sarcastically.

"Moon, I swear to the gods-"

"Enough, you two," Turtle scolded. "So... now what?"

"I want to hear about your adventures!" Kinkajou said enthusiastically.

"Where'd you learn how to use a sword like that?" Winter asked, speaking for the first time in several minutes.

"Do you have powers?" Turtle asked.

"Maybe, Camp Half-Blood, and yes," Qibli summarized.

"What's Camp Half-Blood?" Kinkajou asked.

Moon's eyes brightened. "I have my copy of the Confidential right here!" She pulled it from her bag. "It explains everything about camp. Us and the other half-bloods worked together on it, so that newbies wouldn't have to suffer through Apollo's orientation film, and Frank edited it for us since all Greeks are dyslexic."

"Dibs on reading it first!" Kinkajou said immediately, then snatched it.

"I've got another copy," Qibli offered.

"Can I read it?" Turtle asked, then glanced at Winter. "You don't mind, right?"

Winter shrugged. "I-I need some time to think this over. I'll read it when you're done."

"Winter," Moon said cautiously, "you know this doesn't change anything, right? We're still us. Just with different backstories."

He looked away. "Moon, this is... a lot."

She stood up. "Winter, _listen to me._ We're not any different. I'm still me, he's still him. We're not totally different people."

"But you are! You're _demigods_ , and I'm supposed to just accept that?" he spat.

"I know it's a lot. This has been my life since I was _seven_ , Winter. I-I lost so much because of it. It's a big part of who we are."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" he demanded.

"Because we're not technically supposed to tell anyone," Moon admitted. "We- we tried to go to college in New Rome, but everyone recognized us as part of the Seven. We couldn't take it, and we knew it was dumb, because we're so powerful, but we came back to the mortal world. We thought we could keep this secret."

Winter shook his head. "I'll see you tomorrow, Moon." He left, and Moon looked down at the ground.

"You know we're still us, right?" she asked softly.

"I think so," Kinkajou said hesitantly. "Also, why am I holding 'The Complete History of Pavement?'"

"Oh! Sorry." Moon snapped her fingers. "Better?"

"Camp Half-Blood Confidential," Turtle read. "Cool."

Qibli nodded to the door. "Moon, can we talk?"

"Yeah." Moon glanced back. "We'll be back soon," she promised.


	5. 5

"We fucked up," Qibli muttered, leaning his head back against the bench.

Moon shivered and leaned closer to him. "Funnily enough, I figured that out on my own."

"Seriously, I don't think Winter will ever talk to us again."

"Me, neither."

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.

"Qibli?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll be okay, right?"

He kissed the side of her head. "Yeah, of course." But his voice wavered.

"As long as we're together," she said softly.

"As long as we're together."

They stayed outside for 15 quiet minutes until it started to get too cold for them to stay out any longer. They separated in the hall to go to their respective dorms, and Moon stood outside her door for a moment, terrified, completely unsure what she would find.

"I have a question," said Kinkajou as soon as Moon stepped inside. "This Pete guy, he said he knew all the camp gossip?"

"The palikoi are incredibly nosy," Moon confirmed.

"Right. So what is he talking about?" Kinkajou asked. "Exploding toilets?"

Moon managed a laugh. "That would be Qibli. His first day, when we were twelve, Clarisse tried to stick his head in the toilets. We didn't realize it yet, but his powers reacted to his emotions and the pipes exploded all over her. Oh, that was a great day."

"Right. Son of Poseidon claimed in a river during Capture the Flag?"

"That happened a few weeks later. Clarisse and her half-siblings tried to get revenge on him during Capture the Flag, and beat him up pretty badly. But when they shoved him in the river, he got totally healed, just as the rest of camp showed up. I figured it out first," she bragged. "But then Poseidon claimed him as his son."

"Um, OK? Last one: underwater kiss?"

Moon blushed, sat down, and hugged her pillow to her chest. "When we were sixteen," she started, "his sixteenth birthday, actually... that was when we finally started officially dating in the dining pavilion. Our friends were eavesdropping, and then they threw us in the canoe lake. But hey, he's a son of Poseidon, so we weren't in a hurry. He said he thinks it was the best underwater kiss of all time."

Kinkajou stared at her. "So you've been dating for three years?"

"Yeah." "Dating" wasn't exactly the right word, though. "Dating" didn't cover being partners in battle. "Dating" didn't cover being part of the Seven together. "Dating" didn't cover falling into Tartarus together.

"And what's the Seven that you mentioned earlier?"

"The first prophecy Rachel, our Oracle, ever gave was the Prophecy of Seven.

_Seven half-bloods shall answer the call_

_To storm or fire the world must fall_

_An oath to keep with a final breath_

_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death_.

"Qibli and I were two of the Seven, along with our friends, Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, Jason, son of Jupiter, Leo, son of Hephaestus, Hazel, daughter of Pluto, and Frank, son of Mars. _To storm or fire the world must fall_ , we think means Leo and Jason. Jason has storm powers, Leo has fire powers. Either one of them was destined to destroy Gaea, our enemy, and goddess of the world. It ended up being Leo. _An oath to keep with a final breath_... Leo died destroying Gaea, but his dragon used a magic elixir to bring him back to life, and he fulfilled his oath to Calypso, his girlfriend, and rescued her from her enchanted island."

"And what about the last line?"

Moon swallowed, staring at her feet. "Throughout history, Greeks and Romans have been enemies. But when Qibli and I fell into- into Tartarus, they had to work together to find the Doors of Death and get us out."

Kinkajou was quiet for a moment, then set aside her book. "Moon?"

"Yeah?"

"What was Tartarus like?"

Moon tried to organize her thoughts and tamp down her fear. "Imagine the way Hell is always described. Hot, lava and fire everywhere, stinks of sulfur. Then imagine it crawling with monsters, flowing with rivers of torture, and with only one way out."

"Oh my God. Didn't Qibli mention that only three half-bloods have ever survived it?"

"Mm-hmm. The third is Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. He's seventeen right now, and survived it on his own when he was fifteen."

"Sorry I asked," Kinkajou said softly.

"I'm going to bed now," Moon managed.

Once the lights were out, she stared at the wall and tried to ignore the hot tears running down her face. When there was a knock at the door, she opened it to find Qibli, and they crawled into bed together.

The nightmares were always better when he was around.


	6. 6

"We'll be in so much trouble with Frank and Reyna if we don't."

"It's a ridiculous rule."

"I'm not saying it's not, but Romans value rules a lot more than us Greeks do, and if we want the two camps to remain on friendly terms, we have to, Qibli, you know we do."

"But what about their lives here?"

"We're a bigger part of that world than they'll ever be, and if we can have a normal life, they can, too."

"Moon-"

"It's not up for discussion. Camp is maybe an hour's drive. We leave Saturday morning."


	7. 7

_You will never be normal._ The monster's voice was less out loud, more in Moon's head.

Moon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. I'm the daughter of Athena, one of the heroes of the Seven. I fell into Tartarus and survived. I was present when Kronos was defeated." She paused. "And this is the part where you say-"

_Die, half-blood scum!_

"Right. That."

Moon quickly turned the monster into a pile of dust, then walked back to her dorm, fantasizing about a hot shower and maybe some coffee. Decaf, because Qibli always confiscated the caffeinated stuff at noon, ever since she pulled three all nighters in a row in high school studying for finals.

Kinkajou was still working on the Confidential when she got back, and barely even looked up when Moon opened the door. She ended up feeling too exhausted to shower, and, wishing she had some caffeinated coffee, made herself a mug and sat down at her desk with the plans for Olympus and a few pencils.

"Hey, Moon?"

"Yeah?"

Kinkajou closed the book and leaned forward. "What's the full story behind how you guys got together?"

Moon leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and smiled. "Technically, it started when we were twelve.

_The strange boy carrying Grover collapsed on the Big House porch, where Moon was playing cards with Mr. D and Chiron._

_Just like Chiron said._

_A stranger, a child of the Big Three, would arrive at camp and help her get out into the real world._

_"He's the one," she said, glancing up at Chiron. "He must be."_

_What was left of the boy's consciousness faded away. Moon kneeled and poked his face._

_"Never mind," she said, disappointed. "I think he's dead."_

_Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Check his pulse, Moon. You've learned how, correct?"_

_She rolled her eyes, but did as Chiron said. The boy's heartbeat was weak, but there._

_"Why don't you patch him up?" Chiron suggested. "I will take Grover down to the medical tent."_

_"Why can't he go there, too?"_

_"You said it yourself." Chiron smiled. "He's the one who will free you from camp."_

"Hold on." Kinkajou held up a hand. "He passed out on the porch, you thought he would save you, and then you thought he was dead?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Moon glanced at her watch. Qibli would be telling Winter and Turtle that they had to leave right about now. "I have to tell you something."

"What?"

"So there's this law that the praetors enacted a few years ago," she said. "If any mortals that aren't related to a half-blood find out about our world, we have to take them to one of the camps."

Kinkajou figured out what she was saying. "So we have to leave school and go to a demigod camp for the rest of our lives?"

"I don't know," Moon admitted. "It hasn't come up." She winced, knowing how disappointed Chiron would be.

Kinkajou groaned. "But finals are in _two weeks_!"

"Yeah, I know. We'll just have to hope this doesn't take long." Moon dug her old camp bag out from under her bed. "We'll leave in the morning. Hopefully, we can take Turtle's car and we won't have to take a bus, then a taxi, then hope Argus can pick us up."

Kinkajou sighed, then sat down next to Moon and picked up her Yankees cap. "I didn't know you liked baseball."

"I don't." Moon put it on. "But I do like being invisible."

Kinkajou yelped and backed away. "Moon?"

She took off the hat. "I'm still here."

"Oh my God! You- you were invisible?"

"Ah, so Kinkajou's discovered the hat," said Qibli from the doorway.

"We never should have given you a key," Moon said, not looking up. "So, can we take Turtle's car?"

"Yep. We'll want to leave at 5:30, so we can be at camp before the wake-up call."

"So I have to wake up at 4?" Kinkajou whined.

"Oh, get over it," Moon scolded. "Wake-up is at 6:45. We don't have much of a choice."

" _6:45_?!"


End file.
